From the Field: Social Problems and Biases

From the Field: Social Problems and Biases

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Jordan Taitingfong: Hi. I'm Jordan Taitingfong. And today I am from the field at the Haring Center, the Experimental Education Unit, where I work. And I'm here with Dr. Maggie Beneke, who is a University of Washington faculty and does research around anti-bias education and inclusive settings. And today we're going to take a few minutes to talk about the relationship between social problems and social problem solving and implicit bias. We all have biases, right? And these biases can really impact kids. We've all had moments where those biases come into play, and they take over before we can even think about it, right?

Dr. Maggie Beneke: And one of the things that we want to talk to — talk through together today is to think about how you can have a conversation with colleagues to figure out how your own biases and the biases that children are navigating might apply as they're solving problems in the classroom, and think through your biases as you support them in solving those problems.

So, there are many social problems in the classroom that can bring up issues of bias. And it can be about a number of different identity markers. It could be about gender bias, right? So, you have a child in the dramatic play area who says, "You can't play here because you're a boy," or a child in the block area who says, "You can't play here because you're a girl," right?

Jordan: I hear that all the time. And in my class, we've had issues around culture and religion where, you know, we had a little girl who was wearing a hijab who was told she couldn't be the chef because she was wearing the wrong type of hat, right? Or kids who speak another language, and then being — another child imitating that language and saying, "I speak Chinese," and then imitating it in a not super-respectful way.

Maggie: I've had similar experiences. So, today I think we want to talk specifically about an example from Jordan's classroom that's an issue that came up as a social problem around — but also brought up issues of racial bias. And we're going to talk through this example using the framework for anti-bias teaching. It was originally written in an article in "Young Children," written by Lisa Kuh, Debbie LeeKeenan, Heidi Given, and myself. And we're going to talk through this framework and model a conversation that you might have with a colleague as you're thinking through a social problem that comes up in the classroom.

Jordan: Yeah, and I think it's great, because anybody can do this, right? Maggie: Yeah, absolutely.

Jordan: And in this particular instance, we're going to use an example that happened in my classroom, where kids were arguing over baby dolls and sharing, which is pretty typical in preschool and kindergarten classrooms. And I walked over and picked up another baby doll and said, "Why don't you guys just play with this one?" And one of the kids said, "I don't like black baby dolls. They're always on sale."

Maggie: So, in thinking through the anti-bias framework for teaching, we often think about an entry point — what children or teachers or families might be thinking about. And it sounds like in your example, you had a pretty clear entry point.

Jordan: Right. I mean, it was an obvious example where bias was at play there because they were arguing specifically over the white baby doll, and the girl who made the comment was a little girl of color.

Maggie: In the next sort of section of the framework, we talk about labeling feelings for teachers. Right? And having a conversation with colleagues about the feelings that might come up for you around this instance. So, in this example, what feelings came up for you and why?

Jordan: Yeah. I think that in those moments, those feelings can be overwhelming, too, so labeling them is so helpful. I definitely was upset with both the kids for, you know, arguing. And also that feeling of, you know, it brought up a lot of things in my own life, too, right? Which is where we can kind of think about those implicit bias, too. Where I was thinking about my own representation, my own childhood when I didn't have that representation and wanting to be white or — and how that might be at play in that moment for that little girl. I was concerned that, like, as a teacher of color, am I in a classroom where I am perpetuating these same biases that I'm so concerned about, right? So, a lot of feeling nervous and anxious about those things, and emotional in general.

Maggie: Yeah, and I think one of the things about talking through your feelings, I think, in relation to these instances is that it's so easy to sort of shut them down or to ignore them and just move on. But if we actually acknowledge them, it can be a moment for further thinking and planning with children. The next step of the framework is to think through, then, based on these feelings and this entry point, what might be meaningful to explore with children in relation to this social problem. So, for you in the classroom, what were you thinking about?

Jordan: Right, so thinking about exploring with kids why they didn't want to play with that specific baby doll. Also, what did it mean when she said it was on sale? And that was also part of the reason why she didn't want to play with that baby doll. So, exploring with kids some of those pieces around race and class as well.

Maggie: Yeah, and I want to be clear, like, that the step can be thinking with others. It might mean that you need to think through the problem with colleagues or with a program director or families. Sometimes for me, in thinking through, I also had to do more research, right? And to read issues of teaching equity and issues of bias in the classroom.

Jordan: Right. And for me, also in that moment, thinking about development of racial identity, like that was something that I wanted to understand more about. And also, like, the impact of the representation in our classroom, right? Do we have — is it just that one black baby doll that they don't want to play with that's in my classroom, or do I have representation that provides positive representation of different races and cultures in my classroom as well?

Maggie: Right. Yeah, so thinking through this step actually can lead you, then, to thinking — I can hear you already thinking through — about how you might respond, right, which is the next step of the framework, which is thinking with a colleague about how you might want to support social problem solving in the short term, right. So, what did you do in the moment?

Jordan: Something that I've learned with these things is always to buy myself a little bit of time, especially if I'm having an emotional reaction. And I do that by asking questions. So, in the moment I asked her, "What do you mean by that? [laughter] Tell me more about that thing," right?

Maggie: "Why do you feel that way?"

Jordan: "Why do you feel that way?" Exactly, exactly. Yeah.

Maggie: And then in buying yourself more time and collecting more information or documentation from the children, how did you then respond in the long term?

Jordan: You know, it was really about thinking about that representation in the classroom. Thinking about how were we actively combatting some of these messages that they might be getting from media outside of our classroom, too, and were we doing it in a way that was ongoing? So, we thought about positioning blackness as beautiful, and really wanting to make sure that we had that representation there for all of our kids. And you know, thinking about long-term problem solving, modeling and sharing, how to solve that specific problem, or how it might make us feel when people say those sort of things, and doing some social skills around emotions in that specific area as well.

Maggie: And I see examples, even in the classroom right now that we're in, around modeling different hairstyles in the dramatic play area and a hair salon, books that can be helpful to position and empower children in particular ways. And I think it's really helpful what you said about continuing the conversation, right, that this is something that you can — it's not a one- shot deal. We can continue to revisit and expand on these conversations with children.

And so, then the last sort of step of the framework is also thinking about how we share, right? How do we share this experience of problem solving and thinking about bias by communicating with others, both in terms of the process and the outcomes. So how did you — what kinds of sharing did you engage in, or did you think about engaging in?

Jordan: Yeah. As a team, we talked a lot about it because it wasn’t going to happen just in one instance with me. It's happening in all these instances. And also, we wanted to be able to be more aware of it when it was happening. So, talking as a team about these things that were coming up. And then also really trying to add it to the newsletter for families. Try to communicate with families, talk about things that had happened in the classroom. We added an anti-bias segment of our newsletter to send home that talked about, like, we're working on representation in positive ways this way, or this is a conversation you can have with your child. And trying to both let families know that we're having this conversation, and have them help us navigate and us help navigate with them.

Maggie: Yeah. I love the newsletter piece because it really shows an example of how we're communicating with families in an ongoing way, that we're not just sharing once children have learned "the thing," but that we're sharing our thinking process as educators, right, in an ongoing way. This has been a great conversation about, you know, just a good reminder about how we all have bias, right? And that it impacts the ways that we respond to children in the classroom, and that we can do work to interrupt our biases through social problem solving with children. I think for me, I think when I talk to teachers, sometimes these moments seem small and they might even seem insignificant because they happen so frequently in the classroom.

But I think it's really important to note that they can add up to bigger systemic inequities and they're really important to address.

Jordan: And this is one of those instances, right, where we can reflect on these small things that kids are showing us about their understanding of the world that add up to these big systemic injustices. And what a great spot for us to push back and to model that pushback and that understanding and critical thinking for kids as well.

Maggie: Right, and in such a meaningful, tangible, and easy way.

Jordan: Right, and it can be hard to reflect on those things. But it matters to reflect on them and it's how we can get better at making more inclusive communities. Thank you.

Maggie: Thank you.